Harrison Ford plays to perfect type in 'Air Force One'
By Laksmi Pamuntjak-Djohan
JAKARTA (JP): How do most of us react to the tag line "Harrison Ford is the president of the United States"? Almost with weepy ecstasy? Why, in God's name, hasn't anyone thought of it before?
If anyone deserves to be brilliant, macho, charismatic, likable, honorable, and the Leader of the Free World, it's Harrison Ford. This, in fact, is the age of Harrison Ford: the ultimate Everyman who embodies all that America and the rest of the world long for in his humanity, integrity, competence and leadership.
Air Force One opens in Kazakhstan where joint U.S.-Russian commando forces capture ultra-nationalist dictator Alexander Radek (Jurgen Prochnow). Soon, we see Russian and American diplomats smugly toast to their mutual accomplishment: hey-ho, here's to playing God once again.
But President James Marshall is not about to be a formulaic ally of PC. He also is not your usual run-of-the-mill president. Steady, authoritative, a Vietnam vet no less, he's also a loving husband and father. In short, nothing that Harrison Ford isn't built for.
Abandoning his official text, he grimly bemoans his own nation's hypocrisy, saying that he will not allow America's political self-interest to deter the nation from what is morally right. He takes a hard-line stand against negotiation with terrorists of every manner and stripe. The message is not new, of course, but the packaging is.
And, thanks to Harrison Ford, morality for once doesn't look cheesy.
Yet it is still harder said than done. Soon after boarding Air Force One, the president is forced to practice what he preaches when he gets tossed into a battle with Russian hijackers who demand Radek's release in exchange for the 50 hostages on board, including the First Lady (Wendy Crewson) and the First Kid (Liesel Matthews). Meanwhile, on the ground, vice president Kathryn Bennett (Glenn Close) musters all her integrity to aid her boss as well as fend off political opportunists inside the White House.
Accustomed to more psychologically challenging characters, Oldman tackles the role of Ivan Korshunov -- the prototypical foreign bad guy -- with sufficient menace. Meanwhile, Close brings unusual realism to her character. She is principally in- charge, but often displays uncertainty that is all too human.
Despite its recycled Die Hard-Executive Decision cross formula, Air Force One is exceedingly well-crafted. But what makes it extraordinary is that it explores, without presuming to explain, sources of Harrison Ford's unique appeal. One may argue this has been done before, since Ford is the kind of actor who unequivocally defines himself as he goes along. But being the most powerful man on earth does wonders even to one Harrison Ford.
Ford's appeal
This is an actor who can breathe life into the most cliched of his diverse roles. He makes every human failing -- naivete, pragmatism, even lewdness -- look appealing.
On a deeper level, Ford is possibly the only actor today who can turn patented acting into a mainstream advantage. He has become the very emblem of trust: the man who always delivers. He actually makes us believe in decency and a sense of honor. Even if it includes killing with his bare hands.
Ford's success also seems to hinge on choosing the right movie at the right time. In the fantasy-deprived 1970s, when the likes of Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman were bogging the screen down with too much neorealism, Star Wars blitzed its hyperpop way into the American consciousness, where it remains until now. In the heady materialism of the 1980s, Ford starred in Working Girl, a movie about corporate integrity. In the early 1990s, when the end of Cold War left Hollywood grappling with ideas, he immortalized Tom Clancy's hero Jack Ryan in Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games in a way that made unflinching patriotism once again in vogue.
In Air Force One, we can sense the same Harrison Ford formula at play. Every age must have its pitchman, and in the politically paranoid mid-1990s, Independence Day has shown that presidents who save the day might just be the answer.
Tension-building
That director Wolfgang Petersen is entirely well-suited to this purpose goes without saying. In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, and the highly-regarded Das Boot established him as a master of tension-building.
Under his sure-handed direction, every aspect of the movie becomes a star in itself: Jerry Goldsmith's heroic soundtrack, Michael Ballhaus' handsome cinematography, the riveting ground- level political counterplot, the sensitive camera work behind the often implausible action scenes, the superb air combat footage between the F-16s and the Russian MIGs, and the skillful editing (particularly the cross-cutting between in-flight and White House scenes).
No less impressive is the carrier itself, which positively glows in warm sepia tones, and looks just like Petersen describes it, "a big, wonderful hotel room" with its lavish interior and monogrammed articles.
Air Force One isn't only technically brilliant. It is also one grand illusion which uses its cliches well. After all, how many times have we seen a cold-eyed terrorist say to an American protagonist, "Stop lecturing me about morals! You've killed more innocent people with one push of a button!" Flare-ups between various Pentagon heavies? CNN getting laughed at for its reporting blunders? A hero torn apart between family and the collective good?
Yet, amid the all-too-familiar explosions, flying fists, mild jingoism and lapses of logic, Harrison Ford remains entirely convincing. We cheer him, love him, root for him. Like Pretty Woman and Forrest Gump before him, he gives us a shared fantasy that is not confined to Americans alone. Even if U.S. foreign policy really does leave a lot to be desired.